


Moderate outrage

by polikszena



Category: Downton Abbey
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-15
Updated: 2020-11-15
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:48:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,539
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27581588
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/polikszena/pseuds/polikszena
Summary: Not long after Sybil's leave, Mary finds herself a new pastime, surprising everyone around her.Sets between S02E08 and Season 2's Christmas Special.
Relationships: Mary Crawley/Matthew Crawley
Kudos: 17





	Moderate outrage

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was inspired by a picture of Michelle Dockery at the driver's seat of a vintage car on the set of Downton Abbey. After seeing it, I couldn't get the idea of Mary learning to drive out of my head. However, as I sat down to write it, it turned into Mary's first meeting with Matthew after Lavinia's funeral. It still has Mary driving a car, but the focus shifts to other things in the second half.  
> Also, I'm not quite sure if the Crawleys had more than one chauffeurs, but based on S02E07 in which it's clear they have (at least) two cars, I thought they must have a second chauffeur, too.

“Yes, this is it, M’lady,” she heard Martin’s slightly hoarse voice as she stepped on the gas and turned the steering wheel to the left. “And now the clutch…”

As the motor car began to run smoothly on the road to Downton Abbey, a small, involuntary laugh escaped Lady Mary Crawley’s mouth, drawing a smile on the chauffeur’s lips.

She knew this was Edith’s territory, she knew that her sister would be upset, as this was something only she could do in the family (not counting Matthew), but being one chauffeur short since Sybil’s engagement, it was necessary. Mary didn’t want to depend on Edith, and honestly, she would have rather walked than getting into a car driven by her sister.

It was also something that could keep her thoughts away from Sybil’s upcoming wedding, and even from her own. Luckily, Richard was engaging himself with renovating and furnishing Haxby Park, so he didn’t have the time to pester her to set a date. For which she was grateful, because she wasn’t ready. Not yet. Sometimes she caught herself wondering if she could ever be ready to marry Richard.

Which was another reason why she wanted to learn how to drive: to steer clear from thoughts like this. She had to marry Richard if she didn’t want to be pitied or ridiculed by society due to the affair with the late Kemal Pamuk. Richard knew about it and he threatened Mary to use this story against her, had she tried to break off the engagement. However, Lavinia’s death and Sybil’s elopement made her and Richard postpone the date of the wedding further and further, until she could finally feel ready for it. Although sometimes she doubted this day would ever come.

Being familiar with Lady Edith’s ambitions, Archie Martin, the chauffeur at Downton Abbey wasn’t surprised when Lady Mary asked him for driving lessons. Her family, on the other hand, were quite astonished when they found out about it. Edith looked furious – she might have been afraid of Mary stealing her glory of being the best driver in the family. However, as she reminded her sister after dinner, with Branson being engaged to Sybil, that position was already taken.

Lady Violet was only moderately mortified by the idea, having witnessed things a lot worse than this recently, unlike Sir Richard, who seemed rather annoyed by Mary’s decision.

“Why do you have to do this?” he wondered, once the men joined the ladies in the drawing room after dinner.

“I don’t _have to_ , but I want to,” she replied.

“But why? You will have your own chauffeur at Haxby, you won’t need to drive.”

“Because I enjoy it.”

There she said it, and it was all true. Once she got the hang of it, she began to like the murmur of the motor, the feel of the steering wheel in her hands and the way the car speeded up when she stepped on the accelerator. It was almost as thrilling as riding a horse.

As weeks went by, she kept practising and now she could confidently drive to Haxby Park and back. One day she was driving through the village of Downton, when she spotted Matthew Crawley walking on the street. Recognising the car, he stopped, then his mouth dropped open as he noticed who was driving it. Mary couldn’t hide her smile seeing him so stunned by the sight of her behind the steering wheel. She drove next to him and stopped the motor.

“May I give you a lift?” she asked.

But Matthew was still speechless. He found Mary driving a car so unusual that for a moment he thought he was still in that bizarre dream he had the night before. Lewis Carroll would have been more than pleased to see it.

“Don’t be so shocked,” Mary said. “Stranger things have happened here.”

“I’m sorry. I just… wasn’t expecting this,” he admitted.

“You’re not the only one.”

Having spent the last two months in London, Matthew didn’t know about Mary’s new pastime, as his mother had only told him about Sybil’s upcoming wedding in September, and he thought it would be better not to ask further questions. Especially not about her.

“Was there a huge scandal?” he wondered.

“Only some moderate outrage. But at least Papa made up his mind and chose the new chauffeur.”

At that moment Matthew noticed another car coming their way, and he could tell that the driver wouldn’t be very pleased with Mary blocking the road, so he made up his mind, too, and climbed into the car. Mary’s lips curled up into a smile as she saw him joining her on the front seat.

“Where shall I drive you?” she asked.

“To Downton Abbey, please,” he answered, returning her smile. “And on the way you can tell me what’s the new chauffeur like.”

“Middle-aged and royalist,” she told him. “Has a very small nose. Oh, and he’s married.”

“I thought so.”

“Papa doesn’t want to make the same mistake again. From now on he will only hire unattractive and married people,” Mary said.

“Didn’t know you thought Branson was attractive.”

Mary’s grip tightened around the steering wheel hearing these words. Matthew clenched his jaw, silently cursing himself for speaking without thinking. But before he could have stopped himself, those words slipped out of his mouth. He shouldn’t have said that thing; he shouldn’t have said anything like that to Mary. Not only because she was now engaged to Sir Richard, but also because of Lavinia. She died because she caught them in a weak moment. She died because he and Mary had broken her heart, and he still couldn’t forgive themselves for that. He shouldn’t have kissed Mary back then; he shouldn’t have said to her that he wanted to marry her. It might have been true, but it was terribly wrong. And now he had to face the consequences.

That was why he spent the last months in London: to be away from her, to be able to think clearly and to let her move onto her new life with Sir Richard. And now he was sitting next to her, saying stupid things. As if nothing had changed, while nothing was the same as before.

He knew the only way out of this would be if he never saw Mary again, but he also knew that it wasn’t an option. Being members of the same family, they would have to see each other from time to time. And to be honest, he did want to see her again as he genuinely liked spending time with her. Why ruin this with something that could never happen?

Mary couldn’t believe her ears. Why did he care who she found attractive? It was none of his business, and as he had made himself clear earlier, it would never be. Her heart wrenched at the thought of Lavinia’s funeral. Even though she convinced herself that it was the Spanish ‘Flu that caused Lavinia’s death, she still felt guilty about it. Had she never caught them kissing, she might still be alive. But then what would it change? She would be married to a man who loved someone else, and as Lavinia wasn’t stupid, she would eventually find it out. So, that would have been a dead-end street as well.

And now Matthew, who had pledged himself to the memory of Lavinia, was making remarks on her finding Branson attractive. Which, for the record, she didn’t do. Tom Branson could have looked like Adonis himself; Mary didn’t see him as a man – he was the chauffeur and nothing else. Well, not anymore: he was now her future brother-in-law. But it didn’t change her opinion regarding his attractiveness.

She threw a glance at Matthew and she could tell he was feeling terrible for saying such thing. Which made it clear for her that he wouldn’t change his mind, regardless of what his feelings were. He decided that nothing could happen between them, and Mary knew her only choice was to respect that. What she could decide was how to deal with situations like this one, because she was pretty sure it wasn’t the last time that he or she forgot themselves. She knew the only way to prevent these situations was if she never saw Matthew again, but this wasn’t an option. Not only because they were family, but because they were also friends and she didn’t want to lose that. Not again.

So, after a short silence that felt like hours, Mary let out a small laugh as if he had said something funny.

“It wasn’t me,” she finally said. “These were Papa’s words.”

“Mary, I…” he began, but she shook her head.

“Nothing happened,” she said, looking away from the road and into his eyes. Then her lips curled up into a smile that made him feel a bit better.

“Just don’t tell Papa you’ve heard this from me,” she continued, turning her head forward again as she drove on.

“Not a word,” he promised with a small smile, being relieved and grateful that she didn’t make a big fuss about his comment earlier. “Now tell me, how are the renovations going at Haxby?”


End file.
